With the increased production and marketing of containers of liquids in which it is desirable that the liquid be removed from the container in relatively small amounts, it is advantageous when the container itself provides the liquid at a measured and substantially constant flow rate, free of surges in the liquid coming from the container and also free of interruptions in the flow. These objects have been accomplished to some extent by a number of devices adapted to reside in or near the opening of the containers and have been characterized as pouring fitments, pouring devices and insert members of bottles, drip-preventing devices for bottles, drop dispensers, and pouring adaptor-closure assemblies such as has been shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,098,586 (Wasserberg), 3,628,697 (Dowson), 3,543,973 (Berins), and 3,980,211 (Owens).
The devices which are presently available to accomplish the aforestated purposes suffer shortcomings which do not make them readily adaptable for mass production capping methods since in fitting the anti-surge or dripless elements to the liquid containers it is necessary for an operator to place and fit the element to the top of the container after the container has been filled with its liquid and then in a separate step, to place the closure upon the container, screwing it down upon threads formed in the neck of the container, and in the closure. As such, this is at least a two-step operation.
There have been some improvements made in the anti-surge and dripless elements of others whereupon the element, prior to installation upon a container, is first fit into a closure whereupon the closure then is placed upon the container neck opening. This results in a one-step operation which is much faster, except however, the prior devices known to the Applicant are characterized as being rather elongated which means that when they are placed in the closure prior to capping, the central portion rises above the outside edge of the closure. As a consequence, the combination does not present itself readily adaptable to automatic capping machinery as, invariably, the center of gravity of the closure and anti-surge and dripless element combined rises to a point near or above the cylindrical wall of the closure, thus being somewhat prone to tipping and subject to misalignment or failing to function well in the automatic capping machine. In addition, if the anti-surge dripless element extends substantially above the cylindrical wall of the closure, there is always the opportunity that the element may not be seated properly by the capping machinery.
This problem is especially accentuated with the increasing use of the short profile closures now being utilized for capping containers because of their adaptability to the automatic capping machinery.
As a consequence of the need to develop a pouring fitment and closure assembly having a low profile, yet still possessing the advantages of being dripless, presenting a continuous stream of liquid at a measured rate and without surges, or gurgling, of the liquid as it exits the container opening, as well as being readily adaptable to the automatic capping machinery now using the closures having shortened cylindrical walls, it is apparent that there is economic value in improvements in this field.
Accordingly, there is a need for a pouring fitment having a low profile, which when placed in a a short cylindrical wall closure, does not protrude above the wall of the closure, or in the alternative, protrudes very little above the wall of the closure in order to facilitate the capping operation, yet possess the characteristics necessary for desirable pouring of liquids from a container.